Filipino recipes offers the best of this Asian cuisine.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

I haven't had time to any crafts for the best part of this year - I put my house on the market in February and we wanted to declutter for the estate agent photographs so all my card making and craft supplies went into storage. I secured a sale on my house quite quickly and we found our dream home almost right away - it was only the second house we looked at! But as regular readers will know, what should have been a straightforward process was held up by our council taking 10 weeks to do the local searches because they were short staffed (they normally take a week to ten days) and our vendors dithering, changing their minds about the place they were buying and 'forgetting' to do any of the necessary paperwork, so in the end we didn't move in until August 28.

We then redecorated the entire house, from getting new wood floors to repainting to buying and building new furniture, so while I have unpacked my craft stuff, I still haven't got time to use any of it! I am very excited though that I have a 'craft room' - a spare room with a futon, desk, and cupboard for my craft supplies, plus a whole wall of bookcases, my dressmaker's dummy and sewing machine. Unfortunately I can't fit all my craft supplies in the cupboard so will have to rationalise them down, or sneak them into the garage and hope my boyfriend doesn't notice!

So while I haven't made any cards in a long time there are still a few I haven't posted on here. This one was very quick to make but I quite like the jazzy style. I used a pre-printed card from a mixed box and some alphabet stickers I got very cheaply from the Works; the pack had letters and numbers so I decided to spell out the recipient's name, the word 'birthday' and his age. It's hardly the most sophisticated looking card but I think it looks quite fun, and this style might be a good idea if you are struggling for ideas for cards for men!

Friday, December 26, 2014

When I visited Vienna in November we went to the Schonbrunn Palace. As part of our Winter Pass ticket, we got entry to the Apple Strudel Show: a demonstration of how to make apple strudel with a piece to try.

Apple Strudel is said to originate from Austria and is a Viennese speciality in particular and the oldest known copy of a strudel recipe is a library in Vienna.

The demonstration was entirely in English which was lucky as though I speak German my boyfriend does not. As it was winter there were only a few of us watching; I don't think the other people were English and there were a couple of children who probably wouldn't have understood anything so I think we were quite lucky!

The demonstrator showed us how to make the pastry from scratch and after rolling it out, she used her hands to spread the dough further, much as people do when they are making pizza bases. She even threw the dough into the air and caught it a few times!

She explained that the dough needed to be thin enough that you could read the recipe through it, and proceeded to show us, which was amazing!

The filling was already prepared in a large bowl; she explained that it included apple, raisins, breadcrumbs and sugar, and then we watched as she placed some of the filling along one side of the dough and rolled it up using a tea towel. Part of the reason for this is that you end up with the rolled up strudel sitting on the tea towel, which makes it much easier to lift and transport to your baking tray.

The strudel went in the oven and I was expecting her to do a 'here's one I made earlier' and take the strudel from the previous demonstration out of the oven, but she didn't and the demonstration ended as the strudel went in the oven, so we didn't get to see it when it was cooked. We did get a piece to eat from a strudel which had been made earlier, served cold, which was really delicious.

We were also given a copy of the recipe to take home and since my boyfriend doesn't like apple, I decided I would make an apple strudel to take to his mum's house on Boxing Day as there would be plenty of people there to help eat it. I made the strudel on Christmas Eve as I knew I would be too busy after that!

To make the pastry, you need:

250g flour type 700 - I'd no idea what this was so used plain flour

2g salt

1 egg

100g lukewarm water (note that is grams, not millilitres)

20g oil

Preheat the oven to 190C. Mix all the ingredients and knead until you have a soft dough - I used my Kitchenaid. Form into a ball and "let it rest in vegetable oil for 30 minutes". I wasn't sure if this meant literally put the dough in a bowl of oil as that seemed like a lot of oil, so instead I rubbed oil all over the dough. My dough had been very wet and sticky but surprisingly the oil took away all of the stickiness.

Heat 50g butter in a pan and fry 100g fresh breadcrumbs until they are golden brown.

To make the filling, mix the breadcrumbs with 140g sugar, 10g cinnamon, 170g raisins, 10g lemon juice and about 1 kg peeled and thinly sliced apples, and a shot of rum. I used about half that amount of apples as it looked like an awful lot, and I knew I wouldn't be able to stretch my pastry out as big as the demonstrator so I didn't think I would need quite as much filling! I also left out the rum.

Roll out the dough on a floured tea towel. Use your hands to stretch it as thinly as possible. I wasn't quite throwing mine in the air and catching it like the demonstrator did, but it was a surprisingly pliable dough and easy to stretch.

I even tried the 'can you read the recipe through your dough' trick and I could - I was amazed as I'm not normally very good at making pastry!

Place the filling along one side of the dough, and use the tea towel to help you roll it up

It just fit into my grill pan with the grill part removed - none of my actual baking trays were big enough!

The recipe said to bake in the oven at 190C until golden brown - it didn't actually give a cooking time. I think I baked mine for about 25 minutes but you really do just need to keep an eye on it. Here's what it looks like from the inside: I can't wait to try it later today!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Pork and Mushroom Adobo may not be new but I have to try it. Every time I visited supermarkets and groceries here in Australia I am always overwhelm with the availability of mushroom in the fresh vegetable sections. I like mushrooms and I have been picking some of it every time or most of my visits. I usually end up thinking what to cook out of them. Below is the list of some of the mushroom dish that I have cooked all these years, click link to check them out.

Today I had this beautiful button mushrooms, I just can’t think of anything to cook it, in the end I cooked it the mushroom adobo style with some pork belly.

Here is the recipe of my version of Pork and Mushroom Adobo.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo pork belly, cut into large cubes

100 grams fresh whole button mushrooms

1/2 head garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped

3-4 pieces bay leaf

1-2 tsp. crushed peppercorns

1/4 cup dark soy sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar

salt

Cooking procedure:

Place the pork in a sauce pan, add all the ingredients except the mushroom and salt. Pour enough water to cover at about 2 inches over the pork line. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes or until the pork are tender, add more water as necessary. When the liquid is reduce to about half add in the mushrooms and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the liquid is reduced to an oily sauce, correct saltiness if required. Serve hot with a lot of rice.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

I love Frozen - and I'm clearly not the only one! In my opinion it's the best Disney movie in years with a strong feminist message and a brilliant song from Idina Menzel. Judging by the amount of merchandise available in the shops, from fancy dress costumes to Frozen shampoo and showergel at Poundland, not to mention all the Frozen-inspired birthday cakes I've seen online, children everywhere are captivated consumers of all things Elsa, Anna and Olaf.

My friend has a lovely daughter who just turned 6 at the end of November and I wanted to make some cupcakes when they came to my house a week or so later. My friend is vegan so I wanted her to be able to eat the cakes but I also wanted to decorate them in the Frozen theme. I didn't have time to do anything massively elaborate so I bought some rice paper Frozen pictures to use as cupcake toppers from Amazon. I already had some snowflake sprinkles at home which I thought would be perfect to add on top. Icy blue is the colour most associated with Frozen - it's the colour of Elsa's dress for instance - so that had to be the colour of the icing.

For the cakes themselves, I used the golden syrup cupcake recipe from Ms Cupcake'sThe Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town. I didn't alter the recipe in any way so can't really reprint it as it isn't my own. Suffice to say if you are interested to know what goes in to vegan cupcakes, you replace the butter with oil, and use a little white wine or cider vinegar mixed with soya milk as a sort of egg substitute. These cakes contain golden syrup and are also drizzled with a little golden syrup while still warm which is lovely.

I made some vegan buttercream by using Pure margarine substitute, icing sugar and a little Sugarflair gel colour paste in baby blue, which I piped on top of the cupcakes.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Fish Lugaw with Malungay, a Pinoy version of Fish Risotto with Malungay. Today I got some malungay leaves at the Rapid Creek Sunday Market. I was thinking of having a fish soup with malungay lunch, but as I was looking for ingredients I saw this risotto rice that have been sitting in the cupboard for some time now. I end up cooking a fish lugaw using risotto rice. The resultant lugaw dish went great using risotto rice for my Fish Lugaw with Malungay but an equal parts of ordinary rice and glutinous rice should work fine, if risotto rice is not available. I have used the rice ratio on my other lugaw dish, click list below to see the recipe.

Below is the recipe of my Fish Lugaw with Malungay a Pinoy version of Fish Risotto with Malungay.

Ingredients:

2 slices tanguigue, cut into large cubes

1/2 kilo risotto rice

1 big bowl malungay leaves

1head garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped

2-3 thumb size, ginger, skinned, cut into thin strips

1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped

1/2 cup fish sauce

salt and pepper

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

Wash the risotto rice and keep aside. Using a medium sauce pan and generous amount of cooking oil, stir fry the chopped garlic until light brown, remove half of the fried garlic from the pan and keep aside. Stir in the ginger and onion and sauté for about half a minute. Add in the fish and fish sauce and some pepper, stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the fish from the sauce pan and keep aside. Then add in the risotto rice and stir cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, then add in about 1 to 1 1/2 liter of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring every now and then, add more water as necessary. Add in the malungay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste, cook for another 5 to10 minutes or until the rice are cooked with smooth texture and the malungay leaves are just cooked. Now add in the fish and cook for another minute. Serve garnished with the fried garlic and with lemon or kalamansi.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Fried Tanguigue Steak with Tomato Onion Chili Relish. A lunch of fried fish served with chopped tomatoes and onion, and some chilies if you could stand the heat plus real fish sauce, eating using your hand. Would that make you drool?

Today I had a similar lunch, Fried Tanguigue Steak with Tomato Onion Chili Relish, and yes I ate with my hands, how good was that. Believe me it was a great lunch.

Here is the recipe on how I made this great lunch of Fried Tanguigue Steak with Tomato Onion Chili Relish.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 pieces tanguigue steak/slices

2 large size tomatoes, diced

1 small size onion, peeled, diced

2 red/green chili, sliced, optional

fish sauce

salt

pepper

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a bowl toss the diced tomatoes, onion and chilies, and some fish sauce, place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Dust some salt and pepper to the tanguigue slices on both side, keep aside for about 10 to 15 minutes. Heat generous amount of cooking oil on a frying pan at medium to high heat until it start to smoke. Reduce heat to medium and fry the tanguigue slices for 3 to 6 minutes, defending on the tanguigue slices thickness, then turn the tanguigue slices on the other side and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes. Removed from the frying pan and drain excess oil on a kitchen paper towel. Serve with the prepared tomato onion chili relish.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Fettuccine with Mushroom and Mushroom Sauce. I would like to share a quick way to cook Fettuccine with Mushroom and Mushroom Sauce using Campbell’s Condense Cream of Mushroom Soup in cans. I have used Campbell’s Condense Cream of Mushroom Soup on my other similar recipes. Using this canned mushroom soup will cut all the time of preparing a mushroom sauce from the scratch. It is very convenient especially if you want a quick way to cook a mushroom sauce base dish.

Here is the recipe of my Fettuccine with Mushroom and Mushroom Sauce, using Campbell’s Condense Cream of Mushroom Soup in cans, try it.

Ingredients:

500 grams fettuccine cooked as per package directions

150 grams fresh button mushrooms, sliced

150 grams fresh oyster mushrooms, coarsely shredded

150 grams fresh shimeji mushrooms, loosen from cluster

2 big cans Campbell’s Condense Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 head garlic chopped

1 medium size onion, chopped

2-3 tbsp. parsley flakes

1/2 block cheddar cheese, grated

fried chopped garlic

parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

chili flakes

olive oil

Cooking procedure:

In a large deep frying pan heat olive oil, add in garlic and onion and stir cook until fragrant. Add in the mushrooms and stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the parsley salt and pepper to taste and continue to stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the mushroom start to render its juices. Add in the Campbell’s Condense Cream of Mushroom Soup, about 1 cup of water and the cheddar cheese, stirring occasionally cook for another 5 to 8 minutes and until the sauce is smoothly blended. Toss in the cooked spaghetti and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve with cheddar cheese, fried garlic and chili flake garnish.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Braised Pork Belly with Pineapple. Sweet braised dishes have become regular to OPC. The dish come in many versions but they are almost similar with the use of common ingredients. Click the link of the list below to check out some of the pork and beef braised dishes that we had.

Today’s Braised Pork Belly with Pineapple is also similar except with the addition of pineapple slices.

Here is the recipe on my Braised Pork Belly with Pineapple

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo pork belly, pork rasher

1 small can pineapple slices in syrup

1 head garlic, crushed

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1-2 tbsp. brown sugar

2-3 pcs. star anise

2-3 pcs. bay leaf

1/2 tsp. ground peppercorns

1/4 cup cornstarch

salt

Cooking procedure:

If using pork belly cut into 2”X1” rectangles (rashers are pre-cut to this size). In a sauce pan put the pork and add 3 to 4 cups of water, add in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, star anise, garlic, sugar, ground, ground peppercorns, bay leaf and the pineapple slice including the syrup. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 to 60 minutes or until the pork are tender and pork skin turned to jelly like softness. Add more water if necessary. When pork are done and tender, reduce the broth by half and thicken with cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup of water let cook for another minute. Correct saltiness if required. Serve with steamed rice.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Braised Pork and Tofu with Black Fungus. I had a pack of fresh black fungi in my ref. which was sitting for some time. It did take a few days before I could think of what to cook out of it. We Pinoy are more familiar with the dried ones called “Tenga’n Daga” which literally means rat ear. Black fungus or would it be fungi are usually used in cooking pansit, the more popular one is Cebu’s Bam-i.

On today’s dish, Braised Pork and Tofu with Black Fungus, I simply braised the whole black fungi together with pork and fried tofu with some soy sauce, oyster sauce and Hoisin sauce with some star anise to pump up the aroma. This is done by simmering at low heat for about an hour and a half.

Here is the recipe of my Braised Pork and Tofu with Black Fungus.

Ingredients:

250 grams pork belly cut into large cubes

1 big block, firm tofu, cut into rectangles, fried and cut into cubes

100 grams fresh black fungus

1/2 head garlic, peeled, crushed

2-3 pcs. bay leaf

2-3 pieces star anise

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp. Hoisin sauce

1/4 cup oyster sauce

2-3 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. ground peppercorns

1/4 cup cornstarch

salt

cooking oil

3-4 boiled egg, shelled

Cooking procedure:

Place the pork, fried tofu, garlic, ground peppercorns, bay leaf, star anise, soy sauce and black fungi in a medium size sauce pan. Add enough water to about 2 inches above the meat line. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hour at low to medium heat, add more water as necessary. Now add in the boiled eggs, oyster sauce, Hoisin sauce and sugar, continue to simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the liquid I reduced to about half. Correct saltiness if required. Thicken sauce with the cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup of water, cook for about a minute more. Serve hot.

As I said cooking is easy, and it is also very quick. For the pork used tenderloin, cut in thin strips and marinated with soy sauce, cornstarch and ground peppercorns. Cooking mostly require stir frying.

Marinate pork strips in soy sauce, half of the cornstarch and a dash of salt and pepper for 10 to 15 minutes. In a wok, heat cooking oil and stir fry the pork in batches until color changes to brown and start to sizzle, set aside. Using the same wok sauté garlic and onion until fragrant. Add in the ampalaya and stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes then add in 1/2 to 1 cup of water. Continue to cook another 3 to 5 minutes or until the ampalaya is just cooked. Add in the pork and oyster sauce and stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Thicken sauce with the remaining cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup of water, cook for another half a minute until sauce thickens. Correct saltines if required. Serve hot with a lot of rice.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Pansit Miki with Upo. Upo at this time have been a regular item in Woolworth Supermarket and on weekend markets here in Darwin, it must be in season. Now I have to think of something to cook this vegetable. The truth is upo is one of my favorite vegetables. In fact I have already posted a lot of dish that uses upo as the main ingredient or included as one of the vegetable ingredients. Check it out, click the link on the list below.

For today I tried to use upo as the main vegetable ingredient of pansit miki. The outcome was good it really compliments the already chewy and delicious miki noodles. Upo when cook is crisp and chunky. I would love to cook this dish again if I have to.

Here is the recipe of my Pansit Miki with Upo, try it.

Ingredients:

1 medium size upo, skinned sliced into thin triangles

1 bunch, bok choy or pechay, cut to pieces

1 small carrot, skinned, cut into thin strips

1 cup pork belly, boiled, cut into strips

1 cup shrimp, trimmed shelled

3-4 pieces chicken liver fried, cut into small wedges

1 400g pack thick fresh Hokien noodles

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup dark soy sauce

1/2 cup oyster sauce

1/2 bulb, garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped

1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped

1-2 tsp. ground peppercorn

2-3 tbsp. parsley flakes

salt

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:

In a wok or large frying pan, heat generous amount of cooking oil. Stir cook the garlic and onion until fragrant. Add in the pork and continue to stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add in the chicken liver, fish sauce and soy sauce, continue to stir cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the ground peppercorns, parsley flakes, the shrimp and oyster sauce, continue to stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the carrot, upo and miki noodles, stir cook for 4 to 6 minutes or until the upo and miki noodles are just cook, the sauce should be thickened by now then add in the pechay and continue to stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, correct saltiness if required.